Curtis Hairston (October 10, 1961 – January 18, 1996) – We All Are One (1984)

This powerful unity anthem was the first R&B chart success for Hairston, the singer whose amazing voice was silenced by his early death at age 34.

View most updated version of this post on Substack.

Curtis Hairston was a supremely talented singer who was compared to Luther Vandross and released several 1980s club anthems before his early death at age 34.

Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Curtis Kinnard Hairston made his debut as a singer at age 3, according to his mother Shirley H. Holloway.

“My father had asked Curtis to get up in church and sing,” said Holloway. “He walked up there, reached up and grabbed that microphone like it belonged to him. From that point, all Curtis ever wanted to do was sing.”

By 14, he was a member of Jazz Transit, a musical ensemble sponsored by the city’s Urban Arts program. In 1982, Hairston met basketball star Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, who had graduated from Winston Salem State University and was back in town for a visit. “Curtis came over to the hotel where I was staying and woke me up," said Monroe. “Once I heard him sing, I knew that I was listening to one of the best voices I had ever heard.”

Already interested in the music industry, Monroe formed his own label Pretty Pearl Records with Hairston as his first artist. Hairston’s debut single “I Want You (All Tonight)” dropped in 1983 and became a club hit in New York City. It went on to reach #35 on the national dance charts and is remembered today as an early 80s club classic.

“To be honest, Curtis made it hard on me,” said Monroe. “I listened to other singers, and I ended up turning down people like Keith Sweat – who went on to be (a) huge star – because I didn't think he measured up to Curtis.”

In 1984, Hairston scored his first R&B chart success (#72) with a phenomenal cover of Jimmy Cliff’s global unity anthem “We All Are One,” originally released the previous year on Cliff’s The Power And The Glory LP. Its powerful lyrics remind us that someday, racism will be a thing of the past. The track was co-written by brothers Huey and Raymond Harris, plus their uncredited collaborator Joe Ellis Williams. The extended 12” version was mixed by the great remix duo John Morales and Sergio Munzibai.

The following year in 1985, Hairston joined the Brooklyn, Bronx & Queens Band (B. B. & Q. Band) and sang lead vocals on most of their final album Genie. It was released in Europe and the UK in late 1985 and in the U.S. in 1986.

One of the album’s multiple singles was the amazing dancefloor anthem “(I’m A) Dreamer” (1986) which inexplicably did not chart at all in the U.S., although it was a #35 hit in the UK. The track was written and produced by Kae Williams, who was recruited by Jacques Fred Petrus to produce the album. “(I’m A) Dreamer” was mixed by Shep Pettibone, who let Hairston’s vocals soar and also created a flawless masterpiece Dub Mix, released as one of four mixes on the 12” single (h/t @NicholasBoyd).

Sadly, Hairston was a lifelong diabetic and in 1991 his kidneys began to fail. He left New York in 1992 and returned home to Winston-Salem, where he underwent dialysis treatment for the next four years until he died of kidney failure at the city’s Baptist Hospital, gone much too soon at age 34.

Further info:

“R&B singer Hairston, a native of Winston, dies at age 34,” by Ed Bumgardner, Winston-Salem Journal, January 20, 1996.

#soul #funk #boogie #80s #BB&QBand #CurtisHairston